Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

First of all thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers over the last year. We have decided to create a blog to have an outlet for anyone who is interested in updates on Lances condition a place to come and be informed. The title of the blog "A future and a hope" comes from Jeremiah 29:11, which is a verse that has given our family alot of comfort through these challenging times. Because as my Dad has said, no matter what happens we have already won! I would encourage you to pass on the location of this site to anyone that you may believe would be interested in updates. -Justin

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Once again we have had trouble getting on the blog..... hopefully we have it all figured out now!! So frustrating..... Anyway the past two weeks have seen Lance having to go back on another medicine for a throat infection, but we are thankful it is all cleared up now!! Iowa City appointment yesterday, they are going to try and lower his steroids a little more. So we would appreciate prayer that Lance will not be to tired and that the GVH doesn't flare up. Doctors have to get him off the steroids before they can try and lower the other meds. After the last flare up of GVH Lance is still on lots of meds. and many are hard on his body but he needs to be on them. So our prayer is that they can get him off soon and that Nathan's donor cells and Lance's body will get along together!! We asked yesterday how Lance is doing for where he is post transplant, which is 7 months today!! They said that he is doing above average!! But when Lance commented that he guessed that he is pretty much out of the woods now as far as the bad stuff that could happen...... They said No right away.... it is still important to be careful... that they don't start to breathe a LITTLE easier until after one year.....they did tell us it is a long journey........ but we are so thankful for all the Lord has done, and for all the prayers going out for Lance, and how well he has done so far.... The Lord brought the words of our blog verse to mind, specifically " I KNOW THE PLANS" were the ones that kept going over and over in my mind until I finally realized God was telling me.... "You know what.... I KNOW THE PLANS.... SO YOU DON'T HAVE TOO!!" What a comfort!! Lance's blood type has now switched over to Nathan's isn't that cool!! And the last test showed NO CANCER! ! So we pray for continued healing and protection and thank the Lord for all of you..... for all your love and care for us !! Oh and so exciting... Cory and Jamie are expecting this week! Our 8th grandchild!! Praying for a quick and safe delivery! ----Penny

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Hello again! Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on what happened in Iowa City yesterday. Dad's test results from his bone marrow biopsy could not have been better! From the test that they have done so far they can not find any cancer! They can't officially say that he is cancer free but from the the test they have done they could not find any cancer! We are so thankful! It has been almost two years since dad was diagnosed with leukemia and even though he is defiantly not out of the woods yet we are just so very thankful that things seem to be moving in the right direction! So thank you everyone for all your prayers!!

There are a few other things that we would really appreciate some prayer for. Dad's liver counts are still too high so we would appreciate some continued prayer that his counts would come down to a normal level. Also the results of this biopsy still showed that dad's immune system is very low, so we would appreciate some prayer that he and the rest of the family would not get sick. He has also been trying to get off the steroids again and the last time he got off of them his GVH flared up so we would appreciate prayers that the doctors could keep his GVH under control. (he started to get a little more of a rash again this week).

Ok now for some other news. So Dad has been telling Mom and I that we need to get out of the house for a little bit and have some fun, so we decided to take a cake decorating class! We just finished taking the first course and we start the second one up again in a couple weeks but I thought I would share a couple pictures of the finished cakes that we made this week! Keep in mind we are defiantly not professionals but I think for only taking four classes so far they look pretty good! Well thats all from our house! Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers! Have a good day! Elisabeth

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Hey everybody! Sorry we haven't posted in awhile but we've been having trouble getting on our blog again. Not really sure what the problem is but it let us on today sooo were back again! In other news I had my graduation party yesterday it was a ton of fun! I'll try to post some pictures soon! Lots of family came that we had not seen in awhile so it was nice to get to see some of them again. We were so happy because dad was able to come to the party to! We weren't sure if he was going to be able to come but he was bound and determined to make it! He's pretty tired today but he says that it was worth it! Dad has been having a pretty good week so far, a little tired at times but for the most part feeling good. We are going back down to Iowa City on Wednesday to get the results of his last bone marrow biopsy so if we would really appreciate some prayer that the results are all good. He has also been having some trouble with his liver counts from all the medicine that he's on so we would also appreciate some prayer that all of his counts would go back to normal. Well I think that is about all from our house! Thanks again for all of your prayers! Elisabeth

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Well Summer is here, Mom's flowers are blooming, and the kids came to visit. I don't really have anything else to say so without further explanation here is a bunch of random pictures of what we have been up to! Enjoy ;D -Elisabeth

We have had a lot of people asking lately if dad has gotten any of his hair back so here is a picture so you can see for yourself! (ignore the bald spot in the middle of his head dad is still hoping that hair will come back but we keep telling him he's probably not going to get more hair back than he had before) ;)

Mom's pretty flowers

Stuart wanted to get in on this post to!

Baby Chayce

I didn't get to post any pictures of when I was in Florida so I thought I would throw one in now!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Have absolutely no idea what happened but we could not get in to write on the blog for over a week and then I went on to check just now and it works!! After trying everything for a week with no results..... started praying about it...... What an idea!! Thinking that is where we should have started!!! (a little slow here!) I wasn't planning on writing right now as we just got home from Iowa City and I'm exhausted.... even though it was Lance's appointment (guess I'm the wimp). He had his bone marrow biopsy today and as far as they go it went well, he is sore but sleeping now.... We will get the results in two weeks. Next week he will do labs here in Dubuque as his liver and kidney counts are still going up (not a good thing but they are trying to figure it out, please pray for them to return to normal!).... Thank you all for your prayers, this week has been a week of our family realizing once again how much we have to be thankful for..... Sunday was Lance's birthday.... Last year we were not sure we'd see one this year.... and Monday was 6 months since transplant!! ---Penny

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Lance and Penny

About Me

My name is Lance. I've been married for 32 years to my wife Penny I've enjoyed every minute of it am looking forward to 32 more. I'm proud to say she is aging much better than me. In fact one the nurses asked me the other night if she was my daughter. I didn't take that as an insult I think she looks good to!! I have three sons and a daughter, eight grandkids and if I could have picked my three daughter-in-laws I could not have done better. I know nothing about blogging or internet so I'm very greatful that my children are smarter than I am.